In November 2018, Taylor Swift announced that she would be leaving her record label, Big Machine Records, after being with them for over a decade. He later signed a new deal with Republic Records, an imprint of Universal Music Group.
In an Instagram post, Taylor said it was “incredibly exciting to know” that she would henceforth own all of her master recordings, while her former label retained the rights to the masters for her first six albums.
At the time, Taylor amicably parted ways with Big Machine, and also gave a shout-out to its founder, Scott Borchetta, in his statement.
She wrote, “I want to thank Scott Borchetta from the bottom of my heart for believing in me at the age of 14 and guiding me through over a decade of work, which I will always be proud of.”
But their relationship turned sour in June 2019, when Scott sold Big Machine to Scooter Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings for $300 million. This meant that Scooter would profit from the sales and use of the first six albums in Taylor’s discography.
In a lengthy Tumblr post, Taylor revealed that she knew Scott was planning to sell the label, which was why she did not sign a new contract with him – an opportunity to “earn” the rights to an old album. despite being provided. He issued each new one if he renewed his contact.
But Taylor never anticipated that Scott would sell the scooter to the company, taking what he called a “worst-case scenario.” In case you didn’t know, Scooter was Kanye West’s manager during their infamous 2016 feud that resulted in his falling out of the public eye after Taylor labeled him a “snake.”
The star referenced the “relentless, manipulative bullying” she had received at the hands of Scooter over the years and said that Scooter had “taken away” her life’s work from her which she was “not given the opportunity to buy”.
“When I left my Masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that he would eventually sell them. “Never in my worst nightmare did I think the buyer would be a scooter,” Taylor wrote.
“Whenever Scott Borchetta heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ from my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to cry,” she continued. “He knew what he was doing; they both did.”
“@taylorswift13 just a thought you should go in and re-record all those songs you have no mastery on how you did but put brand new art and some sort of incentive so fans can now listen to the old ones Do not buy edition,” Kelly wrote, “I’ll buy all the new versions just to prove my point.”
Kelly said the idea was actually inspired by her former mother-in-law, country music star Reba McEntire. She told Jimmy Fallon: “He redid all his music and did the same composers, same everything. That’s where I got the idea.”
“She’s been writing since she was a little girl, right?” Kelly added Taylor. “So it’s like his diary.”
Taylor did not publicly acknowledge Kelly’s tweet, but a month later announced that this was what he planned to do. She was true to her word, and in 2021 Taylor released her first two albums, Rerecorded, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) And Red (Taylor’s Version),
As for the “incentives” for fans to buy it, as Kelly mentioned in his tweet, each re-release comes with new artwork, the never-before-heard song “From the Vault” and even a short film. Came with Overall, the new versions of Taylor’s work fared better than the originals.
And Kelly has now revealed that Scooter was not happy with the advice he gave Taylor in 2019, and even called her manager about it.
Speaking to Andy Cohen for SiriusXM Town Hall Special on Wednesday, Kelly said: “I think Scooter took the insult out on it, we bumped into each other and I think he reached out to my manager at the time “
“It was nothing against her, when she came out and said that and I heard about it, I said, ‘Whatever happens, re-record them, your fans will support you,'” she continued. .
Referring to Scooter, Kelly said: “He didn’t say anything to me. I think he called my manager at that time, I don’t know what happened or what was said but I think he thought I was attacking him.
The star insisted, “And I was like…I didn’t even know everything, to be honest.” “All I heard was: ‘Man, I really want to own…’ And I was like, She writes everything down, it is very important to her, she is a business woman…It felt wrong that he didn’t get the chance, didn’t it?”
“If you have the opportunity and you choose not to pay that much money, that’s one thing,” Kelly told Andy. “But missing out on the opportunity to own something that really matters to you…”
Kelly then admitted that she is “not a business woman at all” and that personally she “doesn’t care” what music she has, but said of Taylor: “But I knew it It was important to them, so I thought: ‘Why don’t you just re-record them? Your fans will support you.’
“In fact, he’s a genius,” Kelly continued. “She not only re-recorded it, but she also planned this Eras tour, like, this woman is a genius.”
Andy then asked if Taylor had thanked Kelly for the idea. While Kelly confirmed that she didn’t do it, she also said that she didn’t expect it from him.
Kelly argued, “No, she’s brilliant, she must have come up with it on her own, and she probably did before I even tweeted it.”
In September, Scooter revealed the one thing he regretted about his Big Machine Records acquisition, and said he found the whole situation “unfair”.
during an appearance on NPR Limit podcast, he said: “What I regret is that I made the assumption that once the deal is done everyone will talk to me, see my intent, see my character and say, ‘Great, let’s go’ Together in business.’ I made this impression with people I didn’t know.”
Scooter continued, “I didn’t appreciate how it all went down. I thought it was unfair.” “But I also understand, on the other hand, they probably also felt it was unfair.”
In late 2020 – just a year after buying Big Machine – Scooter sold the masters of Taylor’s catalogue, including all related videos and artwork, to Shamrock Holdings for over $300 million.
After this news came out, Taylor issued another statement where he reveals that his and Scooter’s respective teams were negotiating to regain ownership of Masters, but they refused due to their terms.
She claimed, “Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA saying that I will not say a word about Scooter Braun until it is positive.”
Taylor further stated that Shamrock Holdings approached her team after purchasing her Masters from the scooter company, and that she was “hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership” with them.
However, he was disappointed to learn that the terms of the scooter’s sale meant that his company would continue to profit from his work.
Taylor wrote, “As soon as we began communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun would continue to profit from my old music catalog for several years.” “I was hopeful and open to the possibility of partnering with Shamrock, but scooter involvement is a non-starter for me.”
Taylor’s third album re-recorded Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)To be released next month.